Malays

The Malays are an ethnic group of Austronesians that live in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. Malay peoples, however, spread out across Southeast Asia, and the inhabitants of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and southern Thailand are all descended from Malays. 24,380,000 Malays live in the world, with almost 15,000,000 living in Malaysia, 5,365,000 in Indonesia, 1,964,000 in Thailand, 653,500 in Singapore, 262,000 in Brunei, 200,000 in South Africa, 40,000 in Sri Lanka, 33,000 in Australia, 33,000 in the United Kingdom, and 27,000 in Burma. The Malay identity means adherence to Sunni Islam and, therefore, all ethnic Malays are Muslim (not counting Chinese Malays and other minorities).